Guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani will be on tour in Australia this November for the first time in four years with his new album 'What Happens Next'.
Joe's 16th studio album, 'What Happens Next' is a return to more accessible, straightforward rock chops compared to his previous album 'Shockwave Supernova', which used an alien alter-ego.
Working with Red Hot Chili Peppers' Chad Smith on drums and Deep Purple's Glenn Hughes on bass, Joe says he approached 'What Happens Next' as a vital artistic rebirth, one that has paid high dividends.
“We had the highest chart position we've ever had, which is always really good, and any guitar player that can hang around for 30-plus years is way ahead of the game,” Joe laughs.
“So I'm very happy and it's been great that during this period where I've been able to focus on instrumental guitar music, which every year becomes more and more unique as a genre.
“I've had the opportunity to play with my band Chickenfoot… and going back a few years, with Deep Purple and with Mick Jagger of course, which is how I got introduced to Australia. So it's been nice to have other things to do as well but this record really did kick off a rebirth, so we've been riding high ever since.”
Known for his highly technical playing that combines driving rock riffs with searing guitar solos in a potent aural cocktail, Joe abandoned more progressive elements of recent albums for 'What Happens Next' to produce a more diverse sounding record not dissimilar to his 1992 album 'The Extremist'.
“The similarities with 'The Extremist' are pretty strong because prior to 'The Extremist' the records were more studio efforts, and 'The Extremist' really focussed on a power trio in the studio and then adding colours on top of that, and that's exactly what we did with 'What Happens Next',” Joe explains.
“It was Chad Smith on the drums, Glenn Hughes on bass and me on guitar, then elements were added afterwards. But the core of it was the sound of that big rock band in the studio and like 'The Extremist', it had funky songs like 'Why' and it had acoustic songs like 'Rubina's Blue Sky Happiness' and 'Tears In The Rain', and it had a jazzy thing with 'New Blues'.
“So I wanted to have that diversity of material on the new record as well so that's why I was telling people it's 'rock and soul' because there are songs like 'Forever And Ever' and 'Looper' that had that R&B flavour that's part of my roots when I was growing up playing in soul bands.”
Joe's tour in November will mark 30 years since his first-ever tour here with Mick Jagger back in 1988, and his first since 2014.
With 16 albums under his belt, audiences can look forward to an extensive set of reworked classics, new material and a few surprises as well. “One of the great things about touring is that you get to continually work on any song you want from way back in the catalogue,” Joe says.
“I still love playing songs from the first couple of records because I still think there's so much room to improve in how I approach them, and of course the connection with the audience is so important because I'm right there with the audience.”
Although a long-time fan of science-fiction – and admitting that he's wanted a robot companion ever since reading Isaac Asimov's 'I, Robot' as a child – Joe isn't sure if people are ready for a fully functional Joe Satch Guitar-Bot.
“Well, that would be a really dangerous thing to get because the Satriani Guitar-Bot probably would just want to play over and over and over again, try a million different things,” he laughs.
“Because they're run by Satriani AI, they would have limitless improvisational skills, which would drive the consumer mad.”
Joe Satriani Australia Tour 2018
Sat 24 Nov - Astor Theatre (Perth)Mon 26 Nov - HQ (Adelaide)
Wed 28 Nov - Forum (Melbourne)
Fri 30 Nov - Canberra Theatre
Sat 1 Dec - State Theatre (Sydney)
Sun 2 Dec - The Tivoli Theatre (Brisbane)
